Pumas can bite in pool draw
CHRIS ROBSHAW is set to make a late bid for inclusion in the Lions squad for this summer’s tour to New Zealand with a return ahead of schedule this weekend.
The England flanker, who missed the entire Six Nations, was touch and go to be seen again before the Lions squad is announced on April 19 when he underwent shoulder surgery in January, but he is in contention to play for Harlequins against Newcastle on Saturday.
Lions coach Warren Gatland revealed yesterday that although he has about 25 players inked in, the last third of the party is still to be finalised.
“There are at least a dozen players that we have to really discuss. It’s getting those last 10 to 15 names right that is the key to it,” said Gatland, who will hold a selection meeting with his assistant coaches this week.
Robshaw, England captain at the time, was overlooked by Gatland for the 2013 tour to Australia. FIT CLUB: Robshaw is in the mix to play on Saturday Current England skipper Dylan Hartley missed that tour through suspension and his hopes of making this one have not been helped by Jamie George’s early appearances off the bench at his expense during the Six Nations. “Dylan has done a really good job as England captain over the last 12 months but he knows himself he is under a bit of pressure from Jamie George,” said Gatland. “A lot of people rate Jamie really highly as well, so that’s going to be interesting for us.” ARGENTINA will be the side all the rest want to avoid when the 2019 World Cup draw is made on May 10, with the seeding order of the 12 automatic qualifiers confirmed today.
Agustin Creevy’s Pumas reached the semi-finals of the 2015 World Cup but have slipped to ninth in the world rankings.
So they will be a dangerous sleeper in a group which will include one country from the top four and another ranked five to eight.
England could find themselves in with Wales and Argentina, with only two places on offer for the knockout stages.
It is a similar scenario to the last World Cup when England were in a ‘pool of death’ with Wales and Australia – and crashed out.
Italy have fallen to 15th after a poor Six Nations but qualified automatically for RWC 2019 by finishing third in their 2015 pool.
Fiji are the only team in the top 12 who will have to go through regional qualifying to take one of the final places.
Twenty teams will be involved again with five countries in each pool.
WORLD RANKINGS